Administration Guide

Configuring e-mail settings for Microsoft Exchange Service

Updated in 2021.1

Configuring e-mail settings for a Microsoft Exchange service (EWS or MAPI) requires the following preliminary steps:

  1. Choose the Microsoft Exchange account Alloy Discovery should use for sending notifications. This must be a Windows account with sufficient permissions to access the Microsoft Exchange mailbox you want to use. You can create a dedicated Exchange mailbox account for this task, or use an existing one.
  2. Configure the Inventory Server to run under the Microsoft Exchange account. To do this, start the Alloy Inventory Server Manager on the Inventory Server computer and change the Inventory Server startup account to the Microsoft Exchange account.

    INFO: For details, see Installation Guide: Choosing Startup Account and Authentication.

Alloy Discovery supports both the MAPI and EWS protocols:

  • Exchange Web Services (EWS) — EWS are an enhanced method of e-mail integration for newer versions of Microsoft Exchange, including Exchange 2007 SP1, Exchange 2010, and Exchange 2013. EWS are installed and configured by default if Outlook Web Access is enabled in your environment.

  • Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) — MAPI is an outdated method of e-mail integration for Microsoft Exchange.

    IMPORTANT: Using this method requires an e-mail profile for the Microsoft Exchange account on the Inventory Server computer. The profile must be created using the 64-bit version of Microsoft Outlook. For more detailed instructions, see How To Create MAPI E-mail Profile.

To specify e-mail settings for a Microsoft Exchange service, follow these steps:

  1. In the Settings app, navigate to Services > E-mail Settings.
  2. In the Choose e-mail service field, choose one of the options:
    • Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI)
    • Exchange Web Services (EWS)
  3. Depending on your choice, proceed as follows:
    • For MAPI:
      • Under Microsoft Exchange, specify the Outlook profile that you have created for the Inventory Server startup account.
      • If the Inventory Server computer has a single mail profile or when Microsoft Outlook on the Inventory Server computer is configured to always use the profile you want to use, keep the Use default profile check box selected.
      • If you want to specify a non-default profile, clear the Use default profile check box and select the profile from the Mail Profile list.

        IMPORTANT: The profile must be created using the 64-bit version of Microsoft Outlook. For details, see How To Create MAPI E-mail Profile.

        IMPORTANT: When you have multiple Inventory Server instances, the Mail Profile list includes profiles that exist on all of the instances.

    • For Exchange Web Services (EWS):
      1. Under EWS connection details, choose one of the following:
        • If Autodiscovery is not enabled, click Specify the Exchange Web Services URL or server name and type in the URL path. The default URL is the following:
          https://hostname.domain.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx

          Alternatively, you can type in just the server name, and the system will suggest the full URL path.

        • If your EWS server has Autodiscovery configured, click Autodiscover the Exchange Web Services URL using this address and type in the e-mail address of the Microsoft Exchange account.

      2. Provide the user name and password for the Microsoft Exchange account.
      3. By default, Alloy Discovery automatically detects the version of your Microsoft Exchange Server. However, in some situations you may need to manually specify your MS Exchange Server version. To do this, choose the necessary option in the Version field.
      4. If you want to prevent communication with the Microsoft Exchange Server with an invalid certificate, select the Reject invalid certificates check box.
  4. By default, all alerts will be sent from the Microsoft Exchange account, meaning they will have its address in the From field.

    If you want to enable Alloy Discovery to send alerts on behalf of other users, select the 'From’ address delegation check box.

    IMPORTANT: Sending alerts on behalf of another user requires that user must grant your Microsoft Exchange account a permission to send e-mail messages on their behalf. For instructions, see How To Enable Sending E-mail on Behalf of Another User.

  5. To confirm that your settings are correct, click Test Settings. Alloy Discovery will send a test message using the specified parameters to confirm the ability to communicate with the mail server. When the Send Test Message dialog box opens, enter a valid e-mail address to send the test message to, choose an Inventory Server instance (if you have more than one), and click OK.

    When the “Test message has been sent” message appears, use your e-mail client to access the Inbox of the account you have just sent the message to and review the result.

    NOTE: To view the log data about sending your test message, open the Alert Log and review the most recent entry at the top. For details, see Alert Log.

  6. Click Save to save your settings.

How To Create MAPI E-mail Profile

MAPI support is being deprecated. Please use EWS for Exchange on-premises or migrate your mailbox to Exchange Online.

In order to integrate Alloy Discovery with Microsoft Exchange through MAPI, you need to create an e-mail profile in Microsoft Outlook. If you are new to Microsoft Outlook, read these facts to understand e-mail profiles:

  • An e-mail profile is a container for e-mail accounts, Outlook data files, and settings that defines where the mail is saved.
  • Profiles can contain all of your e-mail accounts; different versions of Outlook have different limits of Microsoft Exchange accounts per profile.
  • E-mail profiles can only be accessed via the Windows account that was used to create them.

IMPORTANT: The current version of Alloy Discovery supports e-mail profiles created only with the 64-bit version of Microsoft Outlook. Profiles created with the 32-bit version of Microsoft Outlook cannot be used.

The Inventory Server must be configured to run under that Microsoft Exchange account, i.e. the Microsoft Exchange account must be used as the Automation Server startup account. So you must create an e-mail profile for the Inventory Server startup account and specify this profile in Alloy Discovery when configuring settings for outgoing e-mail.

To create a new e-mail profile containing one Microsoft Exchange e-mail account:

  1. Make sure you have the 64-bit version of Microsoft Outlook installed on the Inventory Server.
  2. A new profile is created automatically when you run Microsoft Outlook for the first time. If you have just installed Microsoft Outlook, you can log off and log on again using your Microsoft Exchange account, run Outlook, and Outlook will automatically create the “Outlook” profile for that account.

    INFO: For details about creating e-mail profiles in your version of Microsoft Outlook, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 829918 “Create an Outlook profile" at
    https://support.microsoft.com/kb/829918.

  3. Test the newly created e-mail profile by accessing the mailbox via Microsoft Outlook.

How To Enable Sending E-mail on Behalf of Another User

In order to enable Alloy Discovery to send notifications on behalf of a user, that user must grant Send On Behalf permission to the Microsoft Exchange account which you are using for sending notifications in Alloy Discovery. Notification recipients will see both the sender address and the Microsoft Exchange account address in the From line, as follows: From: Mailbox <Microsoft Exchange address> on behalf of Mailbox <user’s address>.

Send On Behalf permissions can be granted using Microsoft Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010, Outlook 2013, Outlook 2016, or Outlook 2019 via Delegate Access. Each user needs to add the Microsoft Exchange account user as a delegate for their mailbox in Outlook, and assign the delegate any level of access. Follow the instructions below for your version of Microsoft Outlook.

For Outlook 2007:

  1. Select Tools > Options > Delegates.
  2. Click Add.
  3. Choose the Microsoft Exchange account mailbox from the Address Book.
  4. Choose None for each folder.
  5. Click OK.

For Outlook 2010, Outlook 2013, Outlook 2016, or Outlook 2019:

  1. Select File > Info > Account Settings > Delegate Access.
  2. Click Add.
  3. Choose the Microsoft Exchange account mailbox from the Address Book.
  4. Choose None for each folder.
  5. Click OK.

IMPORTANT: For additional information on Outlook for Microsoft 365, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, Office for business, Outlook 2013, Office 365 Small Business, Outlook 2010, see the Microsoft Support article "Allow someone else to manage your mail and calendar" at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/allow-someone-else-to-manage-your-mail-and-calendar-41c40c04-3bd1-4d22-963a-28eafec25926.